


The Change We Must Experience

by remipachu



Category: Touhou Project
Genre: Gen, POV Second Person, Pre-Canon, Pre-Gensokyo, Remilia Scarlet POV, Scarlet Devil Mansion Backstory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-11 22:25:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9037274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/remipachu/pseuds/remipachu
Summary: Tumblr Touhou Secret Santa gift for remi-lia.tumblr.com! You asked for something that explores Remilia's character through an event in her past, and when I read that I got so excited. Remilia is one of my favorite characters and I've actually written fic exploring her character before so I was more than happy to write this for you. I hope you like it!
--
You knows that some things must change, but for something of this magnitude... You're not so sure.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [remi-lia.tumblr.com](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=remi-lia.tumblr.com).



The first time you feel a slight change in your power, you keep it to yourself. A minute drop should be nothing to worry about. Times have been changing for a while now, and with fewer and fewer people believing in things like vampires or witches, it makes sense that you’d lose a little power. Your existence is fueled by belief, after all.

But over time, you feel it slipping further. And normally you’re not one to panic, but with your physical strength waning day by day and that craving you ignore as much as possible getting stronger and stronger, your calm is starting to fray at the edges.

Pacing up and down the floor of the library one day, you ponder how you’re going to bring it up to Patchouli. Her few maids flutter around you curiously for a bit, but wander off quickly as they realize there’s nothing too interesting to see. As the threads of your thoughts start going nowhere, the speed of your pacing slows down until you reach a stop. The dust stirred up by your movement settles while you clench your fists in frustration. The ominous quiet of the library begins to creep into your thoughts, and before long, you turn your face skyward and scream in a fit of impatience.

“Aaaaaaugh!” you shriek at the top of your lungs, “Patcheeeeee! I need to talk to you!” The startled maids, as well as Patchouli’s assistant scatter across the library, and you shoot up into the air to look for your friend. After a few seconds of hovering above the dusty bookshelves, a flare of purple light appears across the library. Knowing that Patchouli must be located there, you fly off in that direction, touching down near a table covered in books and empty coffee mugs less than a minute later.

“If you wanted to find me, Remi,” Patchouli deadpans, not looking up from her book, “you could have just asked my assistant of my whereabouts. There’s no need to make such a ruckus.”

“I was just frustrated,” you grumble, “I was trying to think of how to talk to you about something but it’s just too quiet in here! I can’t concentrate.” Patchouli looks up from her book with a nonplussed expression.

“You can’t concentrate because it’s  _ too quiet _ .” she says flatly. “Right.” Sighing, she places a bookmark topped with gold thread in her book, pushes a coffee mug aside, and puts her book down. “Anyway, what was it that you needed to speak with me about?”

You pause for a second and try, in one last effort, to think of what to say. When nothing good comes within five seconds, you just think  _ screw it _ and let your mouth do the talking.

“Well… There’s been kind of an issue I guess recently?” you begin, oh-so-eloquently, “My power. There’s been less of it. And I’m pretty sure it’s because people don’t really believe in vampires anymore, like I heard once that when a supernatural being like me isn’t believed in then we start to disappear and--”

“And you’re afraid that’s what’s happening.” Patchouli interrupts. “Well, I can’t say I haven’t been noticing the same thing, to be frank. I have been reading up on potential solutions to this problem, and I have a few ideas.” You mentally, and almost physically, sigh in relief hearing this. You knew Patchouli would be able to help. She always does. You look your friend in the eyes and give her a smile.

“I knew I could count on you, Patche,” you say, with a note of pride in your voice, “What’ve you been thinking of?” Patchouli adjusts her glasses and glances over her books, soon picking up and dusting off one you know she bound herself and flicking through it. When she reaches her page, she begins to read aloud.

“Let’s see…” she mutters, “One idea that came to mind that may not work would be to simply go around and announce that we’re magicians and vampires and whatnot to the townsfolk nearby, though…”

“People may not believe us,” you finish, tilting your head.

“Exactly.” Patchouli responds, “A couple more ideas I had that may not work were spreading rumors of vampire attacks and witch covens and such so that people begin to believe in us, but again, there is the problem of people not believing us in the first place. There’s also going on a killing spree--”

“I fail to see the problem with that,” you interrupt with a smirk, before giving a small laugh. Patchouli looks at you with her eyes narrowed, and then rolls her eyes.

“Right.” she continues, “And such things like that. But the one idea I had that may work would be to transport us to a realm where belief in the supernatural is commonplace.” You look Patchouli in the eyes, your brows furrowing in confusion. “I’ve read of such realms before. There are a few located across the Earth. They are essentially areas that are sealed off from the rest of the world that require a great amount of magic to get into and out of. Essentially, they function as sanctuaries for supernatural beings such as you and I where we can exist without fear of disappearing due to lack of belief.”

“Are there any located here in France?” you ask.

“That would be easy, would it not?” Patchouli responds. “Unfortunately, no. There’s one in Romania just outside of Bucharest. Unfortunately, that one is… unstable at best. The most recent documents I’ve read on its existence say its demise is imminent. Its inhabitants have been fleeing to other such realms.”

“So, where were you thinking of going?”

“Most others I’ve read of are unstable,” she muses, “I considered going to the Russian domain of Strane Chudes, but it’s supposed to be very hostile to outsiders. Thus, the one realm that I’ve determined to be ideal is the Japanese land of Gensokyo.”

“...Japanese.” you state. “How much energy is it going to take to transport us all the way to Japan, not even to break into Gensokyo? And we’d have to learn an entirely new language besides that! Is there really nowhere else we can go?” Patchouli squints at you before placing her book down and responding.

“Remi.” she says. “However much energy we need, we have, or we can get. And it’s not like you haven’t learned any other languages before. You’re just afraid of the change we must experience now, are you not?” You wince before looking away. Patchouli knows you all too well. Inhaling, you turn around.

“Yeah, I guess…” you mutter, “It’s just… it would be completely different from anything I’ve ever experienced before. And how would Flandre react? I kind of just want to wait until we know for sure that we have to move before we make any decisions, Patche.” You hear Patchouli sigh from behind you.

“But Remi, if I’m not mistaken, you were the one who came to me asking for a solution.” she returns, “And if we wait for much longer, we may discover that it’s too late to move. And then what would happen?” You look at her over your shoulder, your eyebrows knitting together sadly.

“...We would disappear.” you answer. You turn around and take a few steps toward Patchouli. Hesitating, you think of what to say. “You’re right. We need to do it. I’ll tell Flandre and we can start the preparations for the ritual as soon as possible.” 

“Well, well, well, I got Remilia Scarlet to admit she was wrong for once.” Patchouli smirks, “But thank you for seeing it my way. I’ll begin gathering what we need. I may have to go out into Paris to retrieve some materials.”

“Alright.” You reply, pushing off the ground to go find Flandre’s room. Worries and doubts still cloud your head, but you shake them off. This will be best for you, for your mansion, and for your continued existence and legacy. And if it’s best for that, then how in any world could it not be worth it?

 

~~~

 

Flandre had taken the news better than you had anticipated. She, unlike you, had grown bored of the sameness that your mansion in the French countryside had to offer, and was glad for the change. She had offered to help with the transportation ritual, and now today was the day…

But you can’t seem to get up to do it.

This isn’t your normal unwillingness to do anything that wouldn’t immediately, directly benefit you. This is… a disgusting cocktail of paralyzing fear and anxiety about anything that could go wrong, a deep, deep reluctance for anything in your life that had finally become stable to change, and a feeling of an utter lack of power, both magically and over anything in your life. The last one you think ironic -- you have the power over fate, and yet you still can’t seem to control where your life goes when it counts.

After a while of sitting in your bed starting at the ceiling, a small knock sounds from the exit to your room. The sound of tiny fluttering wings alert you to the fact that a fairy maid is at your door.

“What is it?” you demand. You hear a small squeak from outside your room before a tiny voice answers.

“U-um, Miss Patchouli wants to talk t-to you, Mistress…” the fairy maid stutters. You groan loudly before replying.

“Let her in…” you yell reluctantly. A few seconds pass and Patchouli enters the room. She stares at you for a second before raising her brows.

“You have to get out of bed.” she states flatly. “If we don’t start the ritual soon, it’ll last through the night into the day.” You give Patchouli a pained look, and she sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. “Remi, if you don’t get out of bed soon I’m going to make you get out of bed. Your choice.” You groan again and slowly sit up. “Good. I’ll be waiting in the library.” She turns around and walks out without another word.

Filled with lethargy, you dress yourself and put minimal effort into making yourself presentable. You exit your room, plodding along down towards the library. Before you can make it very far, however, you find your sister flying at you at high speeds.

“Big siiiiiiis!” Flandre shouts at you, a pout on her face, “Come on! We gotta goooooooo! Hurry up hurry up hurry up!” She grabs your hand, and before you know it, you’re flying down the hallway faster than a cat chasing a mouse.

It doesn’t take long before you’re in the library, where Patchouli has set up a powerful magic circle that you can see her standing before. Her eyes are half-open but you can see her chanting part of a spell as fast as she can speak. You and Flandre land opposite of Patchouli, and after she looks up at you, she stops talking.

“Flandre, you stand there,” she orders, pointing at a spot in the circle she has marked on the floor, “And you stand there, Remi. I’ll do most of the spellcasting work, you two just need to gather as much energy as you can and focus it into the circle. Hold it there. When the time is right, I’ll tell you to release it. When that happens, hold onto something. The transportation process is supposed to feel like something akin to a very strong earthquake.” She takes a deep breath. “Okay, now that that’s out of the way, start gathering your energy.” Immediately after she finishes her sentence, Patchouli goes back to chanting incantations. You see Flandre breathe in and out several times before she closes her eyes and you feel a sudden influx of energy.

_ Well, if I don’t start now, I never will… _ You think. Closing your eyes, you begin to draw magic in towards yourself, and then into the magic circle. You focus as much as you can on gathering the energy you need for the ceremony, but doubtful thoughts still cloud your mind. What will happen to you once you get to Gensokyo? Will you build up a fearsome reputation like you used to have all those years ago? Or will you perish as soon as the energy is released and the mansion is taken away? You eyes open and your breathing begins to quicken as panic sets in. You don’t want this change. You don’t want it at all. The magic you were gathering begins to slip away, out of your control yet again.  _ I don’t want it I don’t want it I DON’T WANT IT I DON’T WANT-- _

“Remi!” Patchouli shouts at you, shaking you from your thoughts. “What the hell are you doing? You need to focus or the spell will fail! And if it does, well-- I’ll see you in Hell, because we’re going to die.” Her usual eloquent tone has disappeared and is replaced with annoyance and anger. She glares at you, teeth gritted in a frown, before shaking her head and going back to her muttering.

She’s right. You know she’s right. Well, you didn’t know about the dying-if-you-don’t-complete-the-spell issue, but that just gives you the final incentive to do this. You don’t want to die. You want to live.

With renewed resolve, you begin to gather energy once again. You use all the strength you have to make sure you’ll survive, and not just you, either -- Flandre, and Patchouli, and even all the maids within your mansion as well.

Before you know it, Patchouli gives the signal to release the energy. When you do, the blast of it knocks you off of your feet into a nearby bookshelf. The library shudders under the weight of the magic unleashed within it, and then begins to shake exactly as Patchouli had said it would. You grab onto the bookshelf in the vain hope that it won’t collapse on you before you make it to Gensokyo. A flash of white light appears--

And then nothing.


End file.
